April 19, 2006

• Rove is quitting his current post to spend more time with the 2006 election. Expect a lot of spin, twist, mud, Swift Boat Vets, and general shit from the Elephants this summer and fall.
• Wait -- so he's really leaving to concentrate on the mid-term elections? So it's not good news at all, and Chimpy still gets points for giving the appearance of accountability? *sigh*
• Running campaigns and choosing candidates is what he does best. He will still be doing what he does best. In fact, having him focus more exclusively on the elections coming up will allow him to be more effective to the Bush administration.
• Oh shit. Eek it.
• Fuck Republicans!W"
• Dang. I was hoping we'd get to see Scotty McClellan's head explode on camera as he tried to explain and defend Bush to an increasingly fiesty press corps, like that dude from Scanners. Seriously, though, I'm surprised this didn't happen sooner. Imagine the stress, to say nothing of the difficulty in looking at oneself in the mirror every morning without weeping. As for Rove, I'm convinced he is not human. I'm not joking, I really don't think a dna test would show him as sharing more than, say 40% dna with his human relatives. He's like something from the movie Troll, only without the kitschy endearing goofiness, nor the Sonny Bono cred.
• In a post at Think Progress, Podesta wonders if Rove has finally lost his security clearance -- and thus his ability to work on policy issues that pertain to national security -- as a result of his role in the outing of Valerie Plame. via Salon's "War Room"
• Eh. If so, petebest, it's probably a damage control move. Would be nice to see some shake-ups happen here. Chimpy is far too secure in his role as Idiot Prince for my liking.
• I really think it's so bad that only a significant majority of Demmycrats in Congress and Impeachment of the POTUS and VPOTUS will affect any change at all for the next two, long, bloody, expensive years. At least. Bush voters have fucked us so wrong, we are screwed for years no matter what happens. /grumblefuss
• ...wonders if Rove has finally lost his security clearance -- and thus his ability to work on policy issues that pertain to national security... Interesting, but why would this administration 1) follow the rule that requires Rove's clearance to be revoked and 2) follow the rule that prevents Rove from working with classified information without a clearance? Rule-following doesn't appear to one of these guys' top priorities.
• I dunno - it just seems so WRONG for a man employed by the executive branch of the government to be paid to increase a particular party's influence in the legislative branch.
• This sucks. They somehow think that moving a few people around can EVER CORRECT WHAT THEY HAVE DONE TO THIS COUNTRY. And I'll bet the electorate falls for it... you know, its not Bush's fault, its just a few bad apples in his administration. They should all be tried for war crimes. Every last one of them. I'd be satisfied if Bush resigned and stepped down in disgrace, and we held emergency elections.
• He's not gone, he's just stepped out of the spotlight and into the shadows. Nothing will change.
• I knew this country was doomed when they were putting on purple heart bandaids. Whatever happens now, I don't care any more. They killed my patriotism.
• Rove will keep his security clearance.
• 'Demoted'? Exactly how is this an approximation of justice? Let me know when these criminals are indicted and executed.
• "Indicted and executed", after a fair trial, of course.
• As fair as they gave to the guys in Abu Graib.
• And "Gitmo"
• Exactly, Mord.
• "Now, why would Karl Rove want his top oppo researcher being the US Attorney in Arkansas for the next two years?"
• Umm . . i dunno? What's going on in Arkansas? Some kinda Hillary thing? if that's it, Karl's losing his edge.
• big ups to my dawgs at the ArkTimes, yo.
• All roads lead to Rove
• His history contains a wealth of precedents in which he manipulated law enforcement for political purposes. buhWHAAaaaaa??? From the earliest Republican campaigns that Rove ran in Texas, beginning in 1986, the FBI was involved in investigating every one of his candidates' Democratic opponents. Rove happened to have a close and mysterious relationship with the chief of the FBI office in Austin. Investigations were announced as elections grew close, but there were rarely indictments, just tainted Democrats and victorious Republicans. Not ol' Turd Blossom?! He's innocent!
• just thought this was pretty well said: The replacement of the eight fired U.S. attorneys through a loophole in the Patriot Act that enables the administration to evade consultation with and confirmation by Congress is a convenient element in the well-laid scheme. But it was not ad hoc, erratic or aberrant. Rather, it was the logical outcome of a long effort to distort the constitutional framework for partisan consolidation of power into a de facto one-party state. This effort began two generations ago with Richard Nixon's drive to forge an imperial presidency, using extralegal powers of government to aggrandize unaccountable power in the executive and destroy political opposition. Nixon was thwarted in the Watergate scandal. We will never know his full malevolent intentions, but we do know that in the aftermath of the 1972 election he wanted to remake the executive branch to create what the Bush administration now calls a "unitary executive." Nixon later explained his core doctrine: "When the president does it, that means it's not illegal." Karl Rove is the rightful heir to Nixonian politics. His first notice in politics occurred as a witness before the Senate Watergate Committee. From Nixon to Bush, Rove is the single continuous character involved in the tactics and strategy of political subterfuge.
• Seen this?
• *is unsure whether to laugh or cry* Verrrrrry interesting in either case. Thanks Skrik.
• Interesting indeed. Also, I suspect that Fitzgerald did not supeona communications from these systems when he investigated the Plame affair. If this was Rove's main email server, then Fitzy--well, it's a sad St. Patrick's day for this snookered Irishman. Although I suspect language of some "any and all relevant" would have been used, which techinically would have covered those emails also. But maybe not.
• Oh Dear God: MC Rove at the Press Dinner. More repressitol please.
• Shucks, I knew there was a better thread to post this! *signs up for the H-Dog lessons*
• Ooops - sorry SMT. I missed that one!
• > Oh Dear God: MC Rove at the Press Dinner. .
• Man, that's like neutron-bomb-level-embarassment. I'm exhausted from clenching everything with the fervent hope that it wasn't real.